


Timeless

by Whedonista93



Series: Modern(ish) Miko [1]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M, Modern Era, Museums
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-20 20:57:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17629565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whedonista93/pseuds/Whedonista93
Summary: From what Kagome’s been able to figure out, she’s become some kind of open secret amongst Tokyo’s youkai. The priestess who heals demons - she only purifies those whose toki outweighs their yoki. She has to laugh that she’s become an urban legend.





	Timeless

**Author's Note:**

> I blame any and everything I come up with in this fandom on aggiepuff (kudos for the beta work) because I never would have touched this world without her prodding.
> 
> Early on, in reference to a katana on display in a museum, Kagome references tsuka ito, which refers to the cord wrapping the hilt of a katana. I have NO IDEA if there's actually specific patterns or eras for them if there are - if you know better, please tell me :) In the meantime, creative license. ;)

Kagome makes her wish and wakes up at the bottom of the Bone Eaters Well, her bow and quiver strapped to her back and katana secured to her waist, knowing three things: one, the well is Closed with a capital C; two, she’s back in her own time, and she can’t shake the feeling she’s on the wrong side of the time rift; three, she’s never felt more lonely in her life.

It takes almost three months to establish herself back in her own time - thanks, in no small part, to her grandfather’s more and more imaginative excuses for her absences over the last several years. But the hardest part is the noise. She finds herself jumping at every little sound and every motion in her peripheral vision, reaching for a weapon she no longer carries.

_ “You fight with passion, Miko,” Sesshomaru’s voice comes from behind. _

_ Kagome startles, bringing her bow up on reflex as she spins, and dropping it just as quickly when she sees who her companion is. “Lord Sesshomaru. Uh… thank you?” _

_ He gives her an unimpressed look. “Passion is not skill, Miko.” _

_ Kagome crosses her arms. “Hey!” _

_ His expression  _ almost _ softens. “It was not an insult, Miko. Merely an observation.” _

_ Kagome scowls up at him. _

_ “You have potential. You simply lack instruction.” _

_ Kagome raises an eyebrow. “Are you offering?” _

_ “Perhaps.” _

Her absences took a toll on her schooling, and despite her mother’s dearest wishes, Kagome knows there’s no way she’s getting into university. She finds a job in a little cafe and takes to spending her afternoons in a museum around the corner.

“You look confused,” a voice remarks lightly from her side.

Kagome turns to see a kindly, if a bit stern, looking middle aged woman. “Sorry?”

The woman smiles and nods to the display - a pair of swords, displayed crossed as if in battle - in front of them. “Do you not know the story of Tokijin and Bakusaiga?”

A bittersweet grin tugs at the corner of Kagome’s lips. “Actually, I know it very well.”

“Then why the confusion?”

“Because they’re fakes. Don’t get me wrong, they’re very good replicas, but shouldn’t they be labeled as such?”

The woman raises an eyebrow. “They are swords of legend. Fairy tales.”

Kagome chuckles. “Their origin is legend, perhaps, but their existence is historical enough.”

“And what makes you think they’re fakes?”

_ Other than the fact that neither has even a trace of Sesshomaru when Bakusaiga is literally a part of him?  _ Kagome can't help the bitter thought before she answers, “Tokijin was destroyed, for one thing. Approximately 500 years ago. It’s not a widely known story, but it’s out there. And the patterning of the tsuka ito on Bakusaiga is wrong. That style didn’t come into use until nearly 150 years after its reported appearance.”

The older woman stares at her. Then at the sword. Then at Kagome again. “I had that sword appraised by three separate experts and I have had it on display for nearly five years. No one has ever caught that. Where were you educated?”

Kagome snorts humorlessly. “Nothing formal. Just… a bit of a history buff.”

_ Kagome scowls at the sword Sesshomaru holds out. “Why can’t I just use my bow?” _

_ Sesshomaru shakes his head. “A bow is not always practical, Miko. At a distance, it is an advantage, but in close quarters, it will be to your advantage to be able to wield a sword.” _

_ “Fine, what first?” _

_ “Take the sword.” _

_ Kagome shakes her head determinedly. “No way! I’ve seen that thing incinerate people who touch it.” _

_ The dog demon takes her hands and closes his over hers, adjusting her grip appropriately on Bakusaiga’s hilt. “No harm will come to you while I am near, Miko. Now, swing.” _

_ “You’re not going to tell me how?” _

_ “I can best instruct you by playing to your strengths and teaching you a style that follows your natural motions.” _

_ “Oh.” Kagome blushes. “That makes sense.” _

_ He looks down at her expectantly. _

_ She swings the sword.    _

“Well, you have a real talent,” the woman’s voice drags Kagome back to the present. 

Kagome’s smile turns a bit more genuine. “Thank you.”

The other woman offers a hand. “Nyoko. I’m the director of the museum. Is your talent limited to just swords?”

Kagome shakes Nyoko’s hand. “Kagome. And no, it’s not limited to swords.”

“What era would you consider your area of expertise?”

Kagome shrugs. “The feudal era, mostly.”

“Obviously you know swords. Other weaponry?”

Kagome finally turns her full attention to Nyoko. “Yes. Essentially anything even remotely related to the youkai legends of the feudal era.”

Nyoko smiles. “Fascinating.”

Kagome raises an eyebrow.

“I’ve been looking for new curator. Mine’s retiring next year. How would you feel about an internship?”

A mere week after Kagome starts working at the museum, she discovers the youkai aren’t anywhere near as gone as she had thought they were. She’s leaving the museum through the back late one night when a wave of yoki hits her hard enough that she instinctively flattens herself against the alley wall, and calls up her reiki - her  hands glowing as easily as if no time has passed as opposed to half a year. She edges deeper into the shadows, toward the source of the yoki. She finds a young wolf demon, partially transformed into his true form, slumped against the wall, bleeding profusely from the vicinity of his ribs and a gash on his head. He growls and backs further into the wall as she approaches.

Kagome rolls her eyes. “Relax, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Miko,” he growls the word like a curse.

She drops her bag and holds her hands out in front of her, letting the reiki fade away. “I just want to help. What’s your name?”

He eyes her warily before grinding his answer out through a clenched jaw, “Toshiro.”

“I’m Kagome.” She drops to her knees in front of him. “Did you know your name means intelligent? You’re not being very intelligent right now.”

“Your reiki will burn me from the inside out, Miko,” he growls weakly.

Kagome smirks. “Bet it won’t.” She calls her reiki up once more and lays one hand over his ribs and the other over his temple before he can protest.

The pain of skin and muscle knitting back together makes Tishiro’s eyes flutter and he slumps against the wall, passed out. By the time Kagome pulls her hands away, the canine-like snout, fangs and claws have faded to the handsome face of a young man in his early-twenties.

Kagome sits back on her heels and rolls her eyes. She sighs. “Now what am I supposed to do with you?”

She ends up calling Sota and a cab. She wipes the blood form Toshiro’s face and buttons his jacket overt the bloody mess of his shirt while she waits.

Sota raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say a word. Sometimes she forgets how much he grew up over the years she wasn’t really around.

Kagome shakes her head. “Just shut up and help me get him in the cab.”

The cab driver gives them an odd look.

Kagome sees the flashing sign of a bar a block over and shrugs sheepishly. “Too much to drink.”

The driver grunts an acknowledgment and drives them back to the shrine with minimal fuss. Getting Toshiro up the steps is a chore and a half, and Kagome practically collapses into the old wingback by her window after they get Toshiro settled into her bed. She dozes restlessly, never really falling asleep and easily sitting up, completely alert, when Toshiro shoots up from her bed, wide awake and startled.

He turns to her, wide-eyed and panicked.

She holds her hands up placatingly. “It’s alright.”

“What- I- what?”

Kagome shrugs. “I found you collapsed and bleeding out in an alley.”

Toshiro blinks slowly. “You healed me.”

Kagome nods.

“How?”

She shrugs. “I’m just special like that.”

“Why?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“We’re on opposite sides.”

Kagome scoffs. “Why? Because you’re youkai and I’m a Miko?”

“Exactly.”

“Well according to who? Because that’s stupid.”

“Most would disagree.”

Kagome shrugs.

“How did you heal me? Your reiki should’ve killed me. I’ve  _ never _ felt reiki so strong before.”

Kagome’s smile is better. “I’ve always been a bit… different. So, wanna tell me if I accidentally put myself in the middle of some kind of clan war by healing you?”

Toshiro flinches. “No. I am packless; it is why you found me in such a state, one of the local packs did not easily accept my refusal to join them. But I owe you a life debt. I will not let you come to harm, Lady Miko.”

“Just Kagome is fine.”

He cocks his head. “You were named for the Shikon Miko?”

Kagome chuckles. “Something like that. You know the Shikon Miko?”

He scoffs. “All youkai know of the Shikon Miko. She saved us all, and we honor her for it.”

Kagome tilts her head curiously. “Then why do you use the title of Miko as if it's a curse?”

The world demon’s smile is brittle. “The Shikon was unique even in her time. And the priestesses that live now… they are harsh and unyielding. If they ever took her example to heart, the influence faded centuries ago.”

Kagome's face falls. “I'm sorry. I hope you'll believe that I mean you no harm.”

He nods slowly. “You saved me. And as I said, I am in your debt.”

Toshiro becomes something of a shadow after that. It says a lot about her family, she thinks, that they don't even blink when she sets up a virtual stranger in the guest room. She’s pretty sure Nyoko thinks he’s Kagome’s boyfriend, despite Kagome’s many objections.

“Would I really be such a bad boyfriend?” The wolf demon teases over lunch one day.

Kagome rolls her eyes. “No. Just… not the right one for me.”

“Do you have anyone?”

Kagome shakes her head. “I did, once. A long time ago.”

“What happened?”

Kagome shrugs. “We were better as friends. It was amicable.”

“But?”

Kagome laughs. “You're getting to know me too well. I started to think about someone else, but… well, life's not fair, and I had to leave.”

Toshiro smiles gently. “Well, whoever he was… would've been a lucky guy. He gave you that, didn’t he? Whoever he is.”

Kagome looks at him curiously. “Gave me what?”

Toshiro laughs. “The dagger at your waist. Sometimes when you get that far away look, your hand goes to it automatically. I don’t even think you notice.”

_ Kagome squeals and scrambles back when something drops into her lap. She doesn’t look up until she hits a tree. _

_ Sesshomaru looks down at her, something almost resembling amusement on his face. _

_ Kagome blushes. “I didn’t hear you come up.” _

_ “You should utilize your reiki, Miko.” _

_ Kagome rolls her eyes. “My name is Kagome. You can use it, you know.” _

_ His expression fades to his usual unimpressed veneer. _

_ Kagome huffs. “And my reiki is fine. You’ve been around enough lately that my reiki recognizes your yoki. I don’t consciously register your presence as a threat.” _

_ Sesshomaru looks vaguely put out at that. “I could end you, Miko.” _

_ She smiles. “You could, but you won’t.” She gestures that bundle on the grass in between them that she had managed to dislodge in her mad scramble backward. “Did you bring me a present?” _

_ Sesshomaru sneers. “It is not a gift. It is… a reward, perhaps.” _

_ “Can I open it?” _

_ Sesshomaru inclines his chin in the barest nod. _

_ Kagome shifts forward onto her knees and unties the bundle. She gasps at the katana and matching dagger she finds within. She examines both carefully, reverently, before she manages to look up again. “Thank you, Sesshomaru.” _

“Earth to Kagome.”

Kagome jerks her gaze back to Toshiro. “Sorry.”

He chuckles. “You’ve gotta get back to work and I’ve gotta get to class.”

“Right, let’s go.”

Months pass and Kagome’s life falls into an easy pattern. After they have breakfast with her family, Toshiro walks her to work on his way to university. She spends her days in the basement of the museum, her lunches with Toshiro at the cafe she used to work at, and her evenings split between practicing with her bow behind the shrine or her katana in the well house and healing the youkai that seem to be finding her more and more often as the days pass. From what she’s been able to figure out, she’s become some kind of open secret amongst Tokyo’s youkai. The priestess who heals demons - she only purifies those whose toki outweighs their yoki. She has to laugh that she’s become an urban legend.

Kagome collapses into bed and groans.

Toshiro chuckles from the doorway. “Tired?”

“Exhausted.” She rolls onto her side and props herself up on her elbow, facing him. “Why are there so many more needing healing lately?”

Toshiro shifts his gaze toward the floor.

Kagome sits up and glares at him. “What do you know that you’re not telling me?”

Toshiro heaves a sigh and slides down the door frame. “There have been some challenges against the Lord of the Western Lands. He’s held the territory for centuries by himself, longer than any other Lord has. Some groups are demanding he take a mate.Some are adamant enough about it that they’re… causing problems.”

“Problems leading to bloody youkai on my doorstep?”

“Yeah, those kind of problems. He doesn’t have an heir. No one in his position has  _ ever _ gone so long without taking a mate. He’s strong. He can handle his territory. But, if it reaches the point where there’s a majority against him… honestly, he'd probably still come out on top if even half the legends are true, but it would decimate our numbers.”

Kagome takes a deep breath. So far she’s avoided asking, but now… now she feels like she has to know. “Toshiro, who  _ is _ Lord of the Western Lands?”

_ “Does it ever get lonely?” Kagome asks, as she steps through the katas Sesshomaru has her working on. _

_ He raises an imperious eyebrow at her. _

_ She rolls her eyes. “The whole Lord thing. You’re always traveling and when you’re home you have to deal with Council meetings and treaties, but you don’t actually have anyone that’s just there for you.” _

_ He offers nothing but a bland expression. _

_ Kagome snorts out half a laugh. “Jaken gets chatty when he’s bored. And you guys have been around kind of a lot lately.” _

_ “I do not seek companionship,” he finally answers. _

_ She stops and lowers her sword to face him. “Just because you don’t seek it doesn’t mean you don’t want it.” _

_ “You refer to a mate.” _

_ She shrugs. “I guess.” _

_ He sighs. “A Lord of my position taking a mate is not a simple matter. And I can rule my land without one.” _

_ Kagome smiles softly. “I never said you couldn’t. I just said it sounds lonely.” _

_ His shoulders hitch in something that’s almost a shrug. “If I were to take a mate, it would likely be for political purposes.” _

_ “Why?” _

_ “That is just the way it is, Miko.” _

_ “But you just said that you can do it yourself. If you don’t  _ need _ someone else, why not take someone you want?” _

_ “If I were to take a mate out of simple desire… she would be vulnerable, Kagome. Part of taking a mate for a political purpose would mean my mate could defend herself.” _

_ “Maybe you’ll end up wanting someone who can take care of herself.” _

_ “I doubt it.” _

_ “Well… like you said, you can do it yourself.” _

_ He surprises her by resting a hand on her shoulder as she passes. “Thank you, Kagome.” _

“The Lord of Western Lands is Lord Sesshomaru,” Toshiro answers.

And Kagome… Kagome laughs so hard she falls off her bed with a thump loud enough to bring Sota running.

Her brother freezes in the doorway. “What’s so funny?”

Toshiro shrugs. “No idea. I think she snapped.”

Sota shrugs. “It was bound to happen sooner or later.”

“What?”

Sota goes back the way he came without answering.

Kagome takes almost a full three minutes to collect herself and another two to catch her breath.

Toshiro raises an eyebrow. “What was that all about?”

Kagome just shakes her head. “Do you know how to find Lord Sesshomaru?”

“My cousin is his personal assistant. Says he always works late.”

“Can you get me a meeting?”

“You sure you wanna meet with him, Miko? He… he’s not a nice guy.”

Kagome smiles. “I’m sure.”

Toshiro shrugs and pulls out his phone, stepping into the hall for the brief conversation. He steps back into Kagome’s room and gestures. “Let’s go.”

Kagome’s eyes go wide. “Now?”

The wolf demon nods. “He’s got a Council meeting tonight, but he’ll be in his office for the next few hours. It’s now or a month from now after he puts out whatever fires this meeting causes.”

Kagome bites her lip and looks down at her jeans and tank top - still slightly blood-stained from the most recent youkai that had shown up on her porch.

Toshiro rolls his eyes. “Change.”

Kagome thinks for all of two seconds before grabbing a red maxi dress and a white cardigan that ties just under her breasts.

Toshiro snorts. “Appropriate symbolism.”

Kagome sticks her tongue out at him as she slips her sandals on and ties her dagger in its sheath to her calf under her skirt.

“You won’t get that past his security.”

“Watch me.”

Sesshomaru’s office is on the top floor of a building halfway across the city from the shrine. It takes them almost an hour to get there, but the time goes too fast and Kagome is nearly vibrating with nerves. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, focuses enough to mask her reiki, but her hands still shake as they ascend the elevator.

Toshiro rests a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to do this.”

Kagome’s lips quirk. “You can’t even begin to understand how much I do.”

The elevator doors open and Toshiro greets the man at the desk - nearly identical to him, just a bit older with slightly darker eyes and hair.

Toshiro grins. “Hey, cuz.”

The other man nods. “Lord Sesshomaru is expecting you. Would you like me to announce you?”

Kagome smiles tightly. “I’d rather you didn’t.”

Before anyone can protest, she steels herself and strides through the doors to the interior office, closing them behind her. She takes another deep breath and opens her eyes, studying the figure by the window. His hair is still silver, still long, but now worn in a braid down his back. His features are still sharp, but his ears and markings are glamoured. Kagome has to admit, the tailored, business man look - gleaming shoes, dark pants and a matching vest, the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up to his elbows - fits him well. As he turns toward her, she idly notes that his tie matches her dress. She turns to her attention to his face, and for the first time, she sees him shocked.

He actually drops the folder in his hand. “Impossible.”

Kagome smiles. “Hello, Sesshomaru.”

“Kagome? You… no. You can’t be here.”

It's the face that he uses her name right away, without cajoling, that lets her know just how shocked he really is. She takes a deep breath and lets go of the tight reign on her reiki.

Sesshomaru’s eyes go wide for a brief moment before he finally manages to slip his indifferent mask back into place. He takes a few steps forward before freezing and just staring at her.

Kagome draws on her courage and moves to stand directly in front of him. She lifts a hand to his face and draws her fingers down one cheek. “It’s so odd to see you without your markings.”

Sesshomaru’s own hand rises to her necklace, gently lifting the pendant - a crescent moon of blue diamonds.

Kagome blushes. She had forgotten she was wearing it. “I saw it in the window of an antique store the day I got my first paycheck from the museum. I couldn’t help myself.”

“It suits you,” he nearly whispers. He lifts his eyes. “How are you here? Powerful you may be, Miko, but you are human.”

“I’m from here.”

His expression turns quizzical.

“This time period. It’s where I was born and raised. Magic brought me to the feudal era, and when it was done with me, sent me back.”

He nods slowly. “Well, that certainly explains some of your oddities.”

The dry comment startles a laugh out of Kagome.

“So… you are the mysterious Miko who has been healing demons.”

Kagome shrugs. “Yeah, I guess. I don’t suppose I could ask you to keep your war off my porch?”

He frowns. “If I could, I would. I would not have you in danger.”

Kagome chuckles. “About that.” She bends and pulls the dagger from under her skirt and brings the blade to her arm, slicing across her wrist before Sesshomaru can react.

His eyes go wide as the cut vanishes, leaving no evidence but a bit of blood on her arm. “How?”

Kagome steps away from him to grab a tissue off his desk and wipe the blade clean before returning it to its sheath. She turns back to him and leans against his desk as she shrugs. “I don’t know. A youkai that came to me… she took a swipe at me. Reflex, after she fell unconscious. I wasn’t expecting it. Cut my throat. I should have died.”

“But you did not.”

She shakes her head. “I did not. I don’t think I’m aging, either. I’ve barely been back a year, but… I can’t get injured. I don’t sunburn. I haven’t gotten sick once… my body just isn’t changing.”

“Fascinating. What’s your connection to the wolf?”

“I saved his life. He was the first youkai I came across when I came back to this time. He swore a life debt and pretty much hasn’t left my side since.”

Sesshomaru almost grins. “He is young, but he was raised on the old ways. He is honorable in a way few are.”

Kagome quirks an eyebrow. “High praise from you.”

The dog demon shrugs elegantly. “I have no desire to cut this meeting short, Miko, but I am due to meet my Council later tonight.”

“I know. I was hoping I could go with you.”

Sesshomaru freezes. “Miko… did your guard explain to you the reasoning behind the unrest among the youkai? The purpose of this Council meeting?”

Kagome nods. “They think you need to take a mate.”

“So you understand the assumptions that will be made if I appear at this meeting with you at my side?”

“I do.”

Sesshomaru sighs and runs a hand down his face in an uncharacteristic show of stress. He takes her hand and leads her to a couch in the corner. “This would essentially be a marriage of convenience. And you have always been an ardent believer in love, Miko. Why would you agree to such an arrangement?”

“I can’t decide if I should give you a fully honest answer, or just the part of it that’s less likely to send you running in the opposite direction. Yet you’re clearly considering it already. Why would you?”

“I would prefer honesty, Miko. That has always been one of your more admirable traits. Do you remember what I told you, all those years ago, when you asked me if I was lonely?”

Kagome nods. “It wasn’t so long ago for me. You said if you took a mate you desired, she would be vulnerable.”

“What did you think I meant by that?”

“Initially I thought you meant that if you took a mate you actually liked, someone could use her against you.”

“And after you had considered it further?”

Kagome shrugs and wills herself not to blush. “I thought maybe you were actually interested in someone who was inherently vulnerable.”

Sesshomaru nods slowly. “I am willing to consider this, Miko, because despite our turbulent history, you are one of the few people in this world I trust. And you are apparently not so vulnerable as you once were, Kagome. I pity the demon who would cross you to get to me.”

The blush finally succeeds in rising to her cheeks. “Knowing the youkai are still around has been wonderful, but… you’re the first real connection to my past. A really selfish part of me wants to hold on to that as tight as I can. I have no hope of a normal human life and family - I know too much, and I’m not entirely sure I’m exactly human anymore, anyway. You need to take a mate to appease your Council. I need to make a statement to the other Mikos - they can’t just kill youkai indiscriminately.”

“There are others from your past in positions of power if your past and a statement are all you desire,” Sesshomaru tells her carefully.

Kagome reaches across the cushion between them cautiously and takes his hand. “You asked for full honesty. Haven’t quite finished yet. You said you trust me. I trust you, too. And,” she takes a deep breath, “before I got thrust back into this time, I considered you a friend. And I was starting to hope for more. I never imagined you would have felt the same, much less actually admitted it. So, it wouldn’t entirely be a marriage of convenience. At least not to me.”

“I see.” Sesshomaru takes a deep breath. “If you are quite certain of this course of action, I am not in opposition to the idea.”

She tilts her head and smirks. “You’ve mellowed.”

He smirks back. “Is it so surprising?”

Kagome shrugs. “It’s barely been a year for me, as opposed to your centuries. It’s a little shocking.”

“I apologize.”

She finally smiles for real. “I never said it was a bad thing.”

Sesshomaru actually smiles back.

“So, how do we do this mating thing? Do we need a witness or a ritual or… I never really asked anyone about it before.”

His smile fades to a more serious mask. “It’s rather simple, actually. We let our energies, our magics, bind us. And…”

She quirks an eyebrow when he hesitates. 

“Many youkai, especially those of higher bloodlines and power, they mark their mates.”

Kagome thinks over it momentarily and the already present blush deepens when she figures it out. “You mean like a bite.”

“Just like.” He raises a hand and rests his fingers against the juncture of her neck and shoulder on her left side. “Here. We do not have to do this now.”

Kagome just smiles and shrugs her sweater off.

A low growl rumbles in the dog demons chest. “You’re certain?”

Kagome nods and tilts her head, baring her throat.

He takes a deep breath, before removing his vest, shirt, and tie, his human guise fading away and he strips them off.

Kagome raises an eyebrow.

“We still have to go to the Council after this, Miko. It would not do to have your blood on my collar.”

She snorts. “Okay, fair enough.”

Kagome lifts a hand and braces herself against his chest when he lowers his head to her throat. She feels her reiki rise, seemingly of its own accord, and the oddest sensation overtakes her as it mingles with Sesshomaru’s yoki when he bites down.

Kagome doesn't realize she passed out until she comes to, staring at the ceiling, with her head pillowed in someone's lap. She turns her head and blinks blearily up at Sesshomaru. “I passed out?”

He nods and blushes her hair away from her eyes. “As did I.”

“Is that normal?”

“Not to my knowledge. However, I am stronger than the average youkai, and you are the most powerful Miko in history. I would also venture that a youkai and Miko of any caliber, much less ours, have never bonded. It is not so shocking that there might be unprecedented results.”

She takes a deep breath and shifts, grateful for his steady hands helping her sit back up. She gets mostly upright before slumping against his side. “You're still shirtless,” she mumbles into his chest.

He hums something vaguely affirmative. “It seemed more pertinent to assure you were unharmed. And once assured of that, I assumed you might like to see your handiwork.”

She starts to turn a curious look up at him, but freezes halfway there, eyes landing on the bright red handprint over his heart, where she had braced herself against him. She reaches tentative fingers out to brush across the mark. He shudders and she jerks back.

He catches her hand and brings it back to his chest. “Your touch does not pain this Sesshomaru, Miko, merely overwhelms.”

She finally turns her curious gaze up to his face.

Instead of answering he brushes the fingers of his free hand over the raised mark at her throat.

She gasps and shudders in response to pleasure and contentment that flood through her at the gentle touch. “ _ Oh _ .”

“Indeed.”

She rests her head back against his chest. “How long before we have to be at the Council meeting?”

“Several hours. Many attending prefer the night to the day.”

She nods absently. “Tell me about the others?”

Sesshomaru wraps an arm around her shoulders. “Your monk and slayer had several children, and long, happy lives. Their descendants occupy several continents.”

Kagome feels the tears spring into her eyes before she can stop them.

Sesshomaru tugs her closer. “My half-wit, half-breed, half-brother mated his Miko. They are still around, but we are not known to seek one another's company.”

Kagome can't help but giggle. “You never have. How is… did… ugh, I don't even know what I'm asking. Kikyo.”

Sesshomaru shrugs. “I am not entirely certain. She is alive, not the golem-like creature she was so long ago, but she no longer has her reiki. I concluded she likely made some trade with one deity or another. Extended life, true life, in exchange for her magic. She was the guardian of the Shikon jewel long enough that her power was potentially formidable.”

Kagome shrugs. “Who knows? Shippou?”

“Your troublesome little fox is still a thorn in everyone's side,” Sesshomaru informs her, something like mirth in his voice.

Kagome smiles brightly up at him. “I'd like to see him.”

He nods. “He will be present tonight if he is in the area. If he is not, I will arrange something.”

The surprise is clear on her face. “You talk to him?”

The sound the dog demon lets loose is somewhere between a scoff and a laugh. “It was an inevitable outcome of the fox taking this Sesshomaru’s ward as a mate.”

Kagome shoots upright. “Shippou and Rin?”

He nods sharply.

“Rin?” Kagome asks quietly.

“Her loss is still felt keenly, but her children and grandchildren still surround me with a family I never knew I needed. You were correct, so long ago, about my loneliness. It was simply filled in a less conventional manner than expected. Rin lived a full life and is remembered fondly by all who knew her. She made this Sesshomaru promise not to regret her life or her passing.”

“It sounds like she grew into a wise woman.”

“She did.”

Kagome jumps at a bang on the door, followed by Toshiro's voice. “Kagome!”

She’s suddenly aware of the reiki barrier around the office. She drops it sheepishly.

Toshiro and his cousin practically fall through the door.

Kagome flinches. “Uh, sorry. I hadn't realized I put up a barrier.”

Toshiro straightens and gapes at her. “What the hell, Miko?! With the reiki and yoki spikes we thought you two were in here killing each other.”

The Miko blushes all the way up to her hair. “Er, no. Not exactly what happened.”

Toshiro immediately focuses on the mating mark on her neck. He growls and starts toward Sesshomaru. “Why, you-”

Kagome jumps up, planting herself between the demons. “Woah. Don't even start. I wanted this, Toshiro. He didn't force me into anything.”

“What?”

Kagome rolls her eyes. “Relax, Toshiro.”

“I'm so confused.”

Kagome laughs. “Then let me explain. Well, maybe. I don't actually know where to start.” She looks to Sesshomaru for help, and tamps down the disappointment at seeing his shirt back in place.

He smirks, and she just knows he knows exactly what she was thinking. He wipes the last of the dried blood away from her neck before helping her back into her cardigan.

“Help me explain?” She all but begs as she ties the sweater.

Sesshomaru, in a rare show agreeableness, obliges. “Lady Kagome-”

“Just Kagome,” she interrupts. 

He raises an eyebrow at her in an expression she's used to seeing aimed at InuYasha. It clearly communicates something along the lines of,  _ Are you truly so lacking in intelligence?  _

She blinks as the pieces fall into place. “Oh my gods, I'm the Lady of the West.”

He nods. “May I continue?”

She nods and waves vaguely, trying to wrap her head around the notion. 

Sesshomaru continues. “Lady Kagome is the Shikon Miko, returned to us at last, and five centuries apart has apparently not been enough to eliminate the bond we once shared. Neither of us was willing to risk losing it again.” His voice is soft by the end.

Kagome can't help leaning into him, and she's pretty sure something along the lines of adoring would best describe her expression in that moment. 

The persistent chime of his P.A.'s phone brings them all back to the present.

Toshiro shakes his head. “Okay, setting aside world view altering revelations for later, I’m pretty sure that's our queue to go, and I wouldn't miss this shit hitting the fan for anything.”

“Crass, but accurate,” the other wolf demon agrees. “Do I need to file for a human marriage license?”

“If you would.” Sesshomaru nods and takes a partial step away from his mate to offer his arm. “Shall we?”

Kagome smiles as she tucks her hand into his elbow. “Let's do this.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
